Coinbase has submitted notice registrations with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer single-stock perpetual futures to US investors, a move that signals the company’s intent to expand its regulated derivatives offerings domestically. However, the filings, submitted on September 1, do not guarantee the product’s launch and are subject to regulatory review and approval from both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The practical implication of these filings is limited to initiating the regulatory process. Notice registrations open the door for a broker or exchange to offer a given product, but final approval and any associated conditions rest with regulators. This development comes as the US continues to sort out the regulatory classification of perpetual contracts, which carry no expiration date, allowing traders to bet on an asset’s price without owning it.
Coinbase plans to work with both the SEC and the CFTC to bring more major financial products onshore. The company has already launched tokenized stock trading for customers outside the US in August and offers other futures products through Coinbase Derivatives, LLC. Coinbase Financial Markets, Inc. is registering as a security futures product broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company also rolled out pre-IPO perpetual futures starting with SpaceX, with contracts for companies like Anthropic and OpenAI expected to follow.
The market for pre-IPO perpetual futures has seen significant growth, expanding more than tenfold since May to approximately $12 billion, according to CryptoQuant. This burgeoning market faces a complex regulatory landscape. In May, the CFTC approved Kalshi to offer Bitcoin perpetual futures, marking the first time such a product cleared for the US market. However, this decision has been met with opposition from CME Group, which stated it would challenge the CFTC’s approval in court. CME Group argues that perpetuals should be regulated as swaps rather than futures, with CME CEO Terrence Duffy noting that the company’s exclusive licensing deals with benchmark providers mean any perpetual contract tied to those benchmarks must run through CME.
CFTC Chair Michael Selig has defended the original approval of Kalshi’s product as a means to bring regulated, expiration-free products under US oversight. The regulatory uncertainty surrounding perpetual futures is a key aspect of this story, with ongoing debates about their classification and the potential for legal challenges.
Several uncertainties remain regarding Coinbase’s filing. The timeline for the potential launch of single-stock perpetual futures in the US is unknown, and ultimate approval from the SEC and CFTC is not assured. The final classification of perpetual contracts under American law and the outcome of CME Group’s legal challenge are also significant factors that may shape the future of these products in the US market. The filings themselves do not guarantee that the product will launch on any set timeline.
Why This Matters
The materials describe a narrow update: Coinbase submitted notice registrations to the SEC to offer single-stock perpetual futures in the US. The timeline for the launch of single-stock perpetual futures in the US.
Broader Context
Source materials place the factual news in this context: Coinbase is working to bring single stock perps to the US.
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